


Another Day Goes By (So Hold Me Tight)

by Lilsciencequeen



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adorable FitzSimmons (Agents of SHIELD), F/M, Fluff, Minor Angst, Season/Series 05, Sleepy Cuddles, Tenderness, spec fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 18:29:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13196028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: “Jemma,” he heard Coulson say, Jemma herself drawing her eyes away from her meal and glancing up at him, her forehead furrowed. “What did the lab results say?”“What?” she asked, clearly unable to comprehend the question. She was trying to focus on him, that much was obvious but there was too much noise, the scrapping of chairs, metal against metal and the sound of people discussing their day that it made it difficult for her to understand the words.





	Another Day Goes By (So Hold Me Tight)

He watched her as she set her fork down on the table, watched as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. He could tell that she didn’t want to be here, in the dining hall with everyone. He could just tell that she wanted to be back in their bunk, curled up under the blankets with him, sleeping off the headache that he knew she had.

“Jemma,” he heard Coulson say, Jemma herself drawing her eyes away from her meal and glancing up at him, her forehead furrowed. “What did the lab results say?”

“What?” she asked, clearly unable to comprehend the question. She was trying to focus on him, that much was obvious but there was too much noise, the scrapping of chairs, metal against metal and the sound of people discussing their day that it made it difficult for her to understand the words.  

“The lab,” he tried again, this time his voice more relaxed. “Did you find out anything? Did you find out how we’re going to get home?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, unable to find the words she was looking for then she shook her head, looking around at everyone. Everyone who was staring at her expectantly. But then she shook her head, and pushed herself back from her seat. “I can’t,” she began, her voice panicked. “I can’t…” And then she turned, and fled, leaving the dining hall, everyone’s gaze following her.

“Jemma!” Daisy called out, standing up to leave herself but Fitz shook his head.

“No, leave her. She wants, she wants to be alone.”

“She does?” Daisy seemed confused, wondering what Fitz was talking about. It was obvious that Jemma was distressed, upset about something. And all she wanted to do was to comfort Jemma, to make sure that she was okay. But Fitz, he was saying the opposite, saying that Jemma wanted to be alone. That it was for the best that she was left alone.

Fitz nodded, looking at everyone, his gaze flicking from one person to the next, his mind working through something. “Yeah, yeah, she wants to be alone. She always wants to be alone when something like this happens.”

“When something like what happens?” Daisy asked, wondering what Fitz was on about. It had been just three days since they had rescued Jemma from Kasius and his powers, since they had helped her to break out of her role as servant. It had been a close call, but somehow, as a team, they had all managed it. “What are you saying Fitz? None of this makes sense.”

“Jemma,” he began then stopped. “You’ve never noticed, have you? None of you get it, do you? In all the years that you’ve known her. She doesn’t like showing weakness. Have you ever noticed, after Hydra? After the Chitauri virus? After Maveth? She doesn’t like showing weakness, she doesn’t like…” He tried to keep the anger from his tone, but it was hard. It was so hard to keep it from his voice when they didn’t seem to notice Jemma’s pain, her suffering, when they just brushed it off. Like they always did.

“She doesn’t like breaking down in front of others,” Daisy whispered, catching on to what Fitz was saying. It all made sense now. She knew that Jemma was stronger than anyone else she had never met but she could count on one hand how many times she had seem Jemma break down.

Fitz nodded, his expression softening. “She never liked breaking down in front of anyone. No matter who it was.” There was a sadness to his tone, and he looked over Daisy’s shoulder at the door which Jemma had exited through.

“Go to her,” May told him, and he looked over at her. “She might not want us, but she’ll want you.”

He knew that May was talking sense, but he was scared that it was still too early for Jemma, and he didn’t want to overwhelm her anymore than she already was. Eventually, the idea of going to her won and he pushed himself away from the table, exiting the dining area and making his way to their shared bunk.

It took him only a couple of minutes to reach it, and when he pushed the door open, he found that all the lights had been turned off, and the room was in total darkness, so he simply closed the door behind, and slid off his shoes and his jacket. He dumped them on the floor, knowing that they could tidy them sometime in the future.

Padding gently to the bed, he called out to her softly, and she looked up at him, a smile making its way across her face. “Hi,” she whispered as he pulled the duvet back and climbed into the bed with her, wrapping her in his arms and holding her close.

“Hi,” he replied, placing a kiss to her nose. “Are you okay?”

“It was just too much,” she admitted, a tone of defeat in her voice. “I just wanted…”

“Hey,” he told her, shaking his head. “You don’t have to work yet if you don’t want to. We have all the time in the world here, what’s a few more days?”

“I just, I just don’t want to let the team down.” She chewed nervously on her lip, and he could see the disappointment and the worry laced in her features. It was oh so evident and he hated that she was feeling like that. He just… he wanted to make it stop. He hated that she was so hard on herself, hated that she valued everyone else’s happiness above her own. He wished, he wanted, her to put herself first for once. Just one time.

He looked at her, his eyes lingering on her for a moment before he shook his head again. “No, no you’re not going to let the team down. You _haven’t_ let the team down. You got all that information on Kasius and the Kree for us. The team can wait a few days while you, while…”

“I recover,” Jemma finished for him, looking at him. “I know what you’re not saying Fitz, you don’t need to soften the blow. I know I’m a setback at the moment, that I’m hindering the team.”

“You can recover Jemma, you can take all the time you need to recover. You’ve been through a lot since, since the LMD attack, the Framework. You can take the time to recover, you can take all the time that you need. Screw the team and screw getting home, your health, you’re well-being, they matter more. They’re so much more important.”

She stared at him, unable to find the words that she wanted. “I just…”

“You’re important Jemma, don’t even try and say that you’re not. You’re important and you matter. To the team, to your family. To me.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead this time. “So if we have to wait 6 months or 6 days to get back to Earth, and back to our own time then so be it. We’re together, and we’re safe, and we’re alive, and if we have to live out the rest of our lives in the distant future, in a post-apocalyptic future, then I don’t care, because…”

“Because what?” she asked, wondering what he was going to say next, trying to read it in his expression but being unable to.

“Because, as long as we’re together, nothing matters.” He wrapped his arm further around her, pulling her closer, one side of his mouth curving up into a smirk. A devilish smile, one that was hard to resist.

Jemma just rolled her eyes at the response, laughing and dipping her head down. “Ugh Fitz…”

“What?” he protested. “I was always the more romantic one.”

“You are. It’s one of the reasons that I feel in love with you after all. You and your romantic gestures,” she told him, bringing her head up once again, and allowing her lips to dance across his.

But her mind kept wondering to what Fitz had said, to what he had told her.

Because, in a sense, Fitz was right.

What ever came next, it didn’t matter, not really. Because they had each other, and that’s, that’s all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Because who doesn't love tender, intimate FitzSimmons. 
> 
> If anyone wants more like this, check out the wonderful [Wash away the golden sorrow](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13179186) by the lovely [stjarna](http://archiveofourown.org/users/stjarna/pseuds/stjarna)
> 
> Title comes from Hold Me Tight Or Don't by Fall Out Boy


End file.
